1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a computer network-implemented service and, more particularly, to a methodology for compiling, managing and saving name lists, along with associated items, compiled by a shopper which thereby engenders a multiple-person buying experience.
2. Description of the Background Art
Automating the xe2x80x9con-linexe2x80x9d shopping experience on the Internet should mirror the best aspects of the xe2x80x9cin-storexe2x80x9d experience and, where possible, even improve upon the in-store experience because of the ability of the Internet to perform computations as well as manage and automatically store databases. Current on-line shopping has not mirrored these best aspects, nor has the shopping experience been particularly user-friendlyxe2x80x94for instance, shopping lists being compiled dynamically are oftentimes lost or abandoned in mid-stream without being automatically saved.
Traditionally, customer access to and interaction with on-line merchandisers of products (e.g., books or food items) over the Internet is specific to the individual customer, that is, a customer accesses the merchandiser via a Web site address (e.g., Uniform Resource Locator (URL) xe2x80x9cwww.amazon.comxe2x80x9d for books, and xe2x80x9cwww.priceline.comxe2x80x9d for food) which controls interactions with the Web site only for this customer. As an example, suppose the on-line customer accesses the Web site home page of xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d, a popular book merchandiser (among other items). Once connected to this home page, a registered customer provides general information, such as an e-mail address, and oftentimes security information, such as a personal identification number (PIN), to utilize the services of the Web site in completing purchases. The customer experience while accessing the Web site is personal in nature in the sense that purchases of books available via the Web site are, in the beginning, treated as if intended only for the identified customer, that is, it is not possible at this juncture for the customer to explicitly shop for other, multiple parties.
As alluded to, the xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d Web site is a well-known Internet site for purchasing books, so differentiating the book purchasing experience using xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d (which is representative of virtually all known purchasing techniques over the Internet) serves as the point-of-departure for the present inventive subject matter. Thus, to distinguish the principles of operation of the inventive subject matter from xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d, it is elucidating to first discuss in an overview manner high-level aspects of the technique for buying books on the xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d Web site, especially when purchasing books for other parties as well as the customer (referred to as the shopper below).
With xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d, the visualization mechanism used for on-line purchases is that of filling a xe2x80x9cshopping cartxe2x80x9d with the books selected as the Web site is perused for books of interest to purchase by the shopper. The books in the shopping cart are all associated with the shopper at the commencement of the shopping experience. Thus, in using this basically-universal virtual xe2x80x9cshopping cartxe2x80x9d paradigm, the shopper peruses the xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d Web site searching for and then selecting books of interest to the shopper and/or third parties, whereupon the shopper xe2x80x9cdepositsxe2x80x9d book choices into the shopping cart as the books are selected. However, of particular relevance is the fact that all books are deposited into a single shopping cart without the ability to keep separate book selections intended for different parties, that is, the shopping cart is not xe2x80x9ccompartmentalizedxe2x80x9d with compartments being associated with third parties. The shopper is responsible for remembering book selectionsxe2x80x94either by memory or written notesxe2x80x94for third parties; one can imagine the enormity of this task if the shopper is selecting books for numerous third parties during a single shopping excursion. This task is the burden of the shopper because the xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d shopping technique only introduces third parties into the shopping experience at the tail-end of shopping, namely, when it is time to check-out the selected books. Only then is it possible to designate which selections are intended for third parties, and to provide shipping address information for such third parties. And to ensure that all parties receive the desired selections, the shopper must at this time complete the mechanical task of entering, for each selected book, the total number of books to be checked-out and paid for by the shopperxe2x80x94it is at this point in the shopping venture that the shopper must recall, via notes or memory, who is to receive which bookxe2x80x94because only one of each selected book appears in the shopping cart.
To understand the limitations of this traditional approach to on-line purchasing utilizing the Internet, consider the following enhanced service (heretofore unavailable) to Internet users. One type of visual extension to the xe2x80x9cshopping cartxe2x80x9d analogy, as alluded to above and which is helpful in understanding aspects of the present inventive subject matter, is that of arranging the shopping cart with separate, virtual compartmentsxe2x80x94each compartment being associated with a single, unique party. For example, suppose a wife/mother desires to book-shop for her husband and two children as well as herself, then the virtual shopping cart has four separate compartments. The shopper then places the selected book into the compartment of the individual for whom the book is to be purchased. Moreover, it is readily visualized that the same book title may be purchased for more than one individual. For instance, two separate copies of the same book titlexe2x80x94one book for each childxe2x80x94may be placed into each of the two shopping cart xe2x80x9cchildrenxe2x80x9d compartments.
At check-out, the virtual shopping cart according to the present invention is emptied one compartment-at-a-time and these books may be shipped separately from other compartments; on the other hand, the total bill for all book purchases placed into separate compartments is paid by the single on-line shopper.
It is readily contemplated, even in view of only this high-level exposition of xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d compared to the inventive subject matter, that the shopping experience utilizing the inventive subject matter is what one would intuitively expect, whereas the xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d experience is counter-intuitive. From another viewpoint, the shopping experience in accordance with the inventive subject matter parallels an actual xe2x80x9cin-storexe2x80x9d shopping experience; moreover, such experience is the converse of the experience using xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d.
Other key points of differentiation, which are not elaborated upon below, will become clear to the person of ordinary skill in the art after the detailed discussion of the present invention:
(a) with xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d, if a shopper selects but does not purchase items, in order to retrieve the saved items for this particular shopper, it is necessary to log-on to xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d from the same computer that the shopper used to make the selections is initially; and
(b) with xe2x80x9camazon.comxe2x80x9d, there is no purchase history for each of the parties for whom the shopper purchased books.
Thus, the art is thus devoid of teachings or suggestions whereby an on-line shopper can commence the shopping experience with the shopper first preparing a list of multiple third parties for whom the shopper desires to purchase selected books. In effect, this list xe2x80x9ctags alongxe2x80x9d with the shopper, as the shopper searches on-line for books to purchase, in the same manner a xe2x80x9ccompartmentalizedxe2x80x9d shopping cart would be xe2x80x9cpushed alongxe2x80x9d by a shopper. Then, the shopper can associate a selected book located during the on-line search as a book intended for the shopper and/or a third party, such as a spouse or child of the shopper.
Moreover, the art is devoid of mechanisms, visual or otherwise, to: (a) maintain the name list of parties for future use, including the ability to add or delete individual names and/or modify shipping instructions during the on-line shopping session; (b) maintain a history of purchases; (c) maintain an incomplete shopping activity, that is, the shopper has deposited books into the xe2x80x9ccompartmentalizedxe2x80x9d shopping cart but chooses during the immediate on-line session not to check-out, but rather postpones check-out to a later on-line session (with, of course, the ability to remove or add books to the shopping cart during the later session before check-out); (d) complete the order process for some or all of the selected books for some or all the parties, and save those books not purchased for later recall by the shopper; and (e) add a name(s) to the list of parties during the shopping experience whenever it is desired to associate a selected book with a new name.
These shortcomings and other limitations and deficiencies are obviated, in accordance with the present invention, by implementing a computer-implemented, multi-party merchandising service. This service engenders a buying experience for a purchaser that parallels the best aspects of an xe2x80x9cin-storexe2x80x9d experience, but also includes heretofore not contemplated aspects which can be advantageously provided by a computer system.
In accordance with a broad method aspect of the present invention, a method for merchandising items stored in a computer system to a customer communicating with the computer system includes: (a) generating, by the customer, a list of names for whom the customer may associate items; (b) automatically saving the name list in the computer system as the name list is generated; (c) selecting one of the items by the customer; (d) associating, by the customer, the selected item with a set of names on the name list to generate a selection list; and (e) automatically saving the selection list in the computer system.
In accordance with a broad system aspect of the present invention, a system for merchandising items stored in a computer system to a customer communicating with is commensurate with the broad method aspect of the present invention.